Skinny Lemon Blueberry Muffins

These fluffy lemon blueberry muffins are a portion-controlled dessert/snack miracle.

It was time these fluffy zesty babes had a home. Thank you reddit for reminding me of them!

Not only one of the best “skinny muffins” I ever made, but also one of the best photos I ever took (didn’t know anything back then, sometimes ya just get lucky — living by that “Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day” motto).

Why are these muffins so good for you, you ask? Let me break it down:

• They’re mostly sweetened with applesauce and blueberries, with a little help from sugar but you can sub that for any granulated sweetener.
• They incorporate healthy whole grain flours, so they will keep your blood sugars stable and keep your cravings at bay, but can also be made using gluten-free all purpose flour if that’s your game.
• They contain protein from eggs and greek yogurt, again stabilizing blood sugars.
• They’re FLUFFY and DELICIOUS which is also good for your mental health.

I made these fluffy lemon blueberry muffins last year based on a request on instagram. Fueled with baking inspiration I hit my kitchen cabinets and started hacking away. Gav is not exactly a dessert person (I know, what’s wrong with him) but lemon and chocolate are an exception so he helped juice and zest the lemon (I hate doing that stuff, but it’s so worth it for these amazing muffins).

Out of my then tiny oven and kitchen came these fluff-ball muffins and we both gasped and started snacking away. I had to steal them from him to be able to photograph them the next day (I’m a night baker).

And they’ve been made by friends over at reddit and instagram hundreds of times since then! Just thinking back to getting these messages just warms my heart.

PS. If you like these muffins, you might also like to check out these Cranberry Orange Muffins, Vegan Raspberry Cheesecake Bars and Lemon Ricotta Cookies!

Print Recipe

4.75 from 4 votes

Fluffy Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Healthy, low-sugar, whole-grain (or gluten-free) lemon blueberry muffins that are tangy and fluffy

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Servings: 12 muffins

Calories: 94kcal

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten egg replacer might work
• 1 cup applesauce (240 g) sub 2 ripe bananas mashed
• 1/4 cup yogurt (60 g) sub oil, I used 2% greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup sugar (48 g) sub granulated sweetener
• zest of one small lemon
• juice of said lemon (45 g) about 3 tbsp
• 1 1/4 cup flour (150 g) gf all purpose if desired
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup blueberries (140 g) fresh or frozen
• 2 tsp (optional) turbinado sugar to sprinkle tops (8 g)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F and grease a silicone muffin tin (I don’t recommend using muffin liners with these since they WILL stick).
• Combine the sugar and zest together and let them sit a few minutes.
• Lightly beat your eggs and combine with applesauce, yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, zest.
• Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
• Fold dry into wet until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. Just fold until no big flour clumps remain.
• Fold in blueberries.
• Pour into muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted comes out mostly clean.
• Let muffins cool most of the way in the tins (at least 10 minutes) and then remove gently using a butter knife. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Notes

• Muffins are sweet enough for breakfast. if you prefer dessert muffins, add more sugar or granulated sweetener.
• I store leftovers in the fridge or freezer. If I want a warm muffin I thaw/warm in the microwave or room temperature.
• To make the muffins extra moist, sub some or all of the yogurt with oil.
• Please don’t over-mix these, seriously. You want to only fold (to avoid activating too much of the gluten in the flour) and stop as soon as there are no big visible chunks of flour. It’s almost ok if there are a few tiny bits of flour.
• Also use a kitchen scale, you don’t want to over or under measure anything here.
• It’s also recommended to use a silicone muffin pan if you can because they do stick (do not even think about using muffin liners).

I know these warnings make the recipe sound high-maintenance but that’s really not the case. If you invest in these little tools and techniques now you’ll get a lifetime of fluffy healthy muffins my friend, and that’s a great thing!

Nutrition

Calories: 94kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 126mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 58IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg